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NZXT have used a combination of plastic and steel in the construction of the H2 which seems reasonably well put together on the whole. The front panel of the H2 is remarkably similar to that of the Define XL, consisting of a plastic door with a metal insert. NZXT have used steel rather than aluminum, though, to keep costs down.
Opening the door gives us access to the three external optical drive bays and the two 120 mm front intake fans. The two fans both have dust filters and can be removed very easily by squeezing the clips on either side of the fan modules and pulling them out. There is no need to take the side panel off to disconnect the fan cables as they plug into a small adapter in the plastic casing. Even though the fans are located within plastic modules, it is easy enough to replace the standard fans with 120 mm units of your own.
Removing the fan modules gives us access to all eight hard drive bays from the front. We are still required to remove the side panel to remove the hard drive, though, as there are no hot swap adapters on the inside.
All of the front panel connections are conveniently located on the top edge of the case. There are four USB ports in total, one of which is USB 3.0 ports and three of which are USB2.0 ports. There are also headphone and microphone connectors located here, but no eSATA port.
The power and reset buttons are located either side of the front panel with a hard drive dock to the rear which supports both 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives. This dock seems like a bit of an afterthought, though, and has a very flimsy cover. The only other item worth of note on the front panel is a small slider which controls fan speeds which has three speed levels of 40%, 50% and 100%.
Behind the drive bay there is a 140mm roof exhaust vent which doesn't have a fan fitted as standard. NZXT have included a plastic cover for this vent to prevent dust build up which is secured using four small magnets. This does have a tendency to slip out of place or fall off so it would have been better if they'd used stronger magnets.
The rear fan vent is populated by a 120mm 1,200 rpm NZXT branded fan which is speed controlled by the H2's inbuilt fan controller. One feature that is worthy of note is the small hole cut into the back panel for the USB3.0 front panel connector. This is located behind the motherboard tray so you're not required to route the cable around the other side through an external water-cooling hole.
seems not bad, but as you say, against a lot more cases at this price.
Well this is interesting. I had read several of these reviews on this case before, and wondered why they would make the front section so accessible with cool touches such as the fans removable with connectors, and then not make the drives easily fitted from the front, would make life easier for the user.
Its a good case, but it seems to me and I thought it before reading this partricular review (thought it before on the last review I read), that they haven’t really started this from the ground up, and have actually designed it after making the core design which has some flaws.
140mm fan slot is fine, if you fit it out of the factory.
Antec do it a lot. and I like that NZXT have a 120mm fan at rear, but its quite dumb to be able to remove the 120mm when fitting a liquid cooler ilke new antec kuhler, then have to DITCH the 120mm fan they supply, leaving you with nothing.
Lack of thought.
I have never been sold on NZXT for cases. THey are getting there but id rather stick to silverstone or Lian Li. better quality, even if they are generally more expensive.
Good review Henry. I like the overall concept , but there are some glaring build issues. the hard drives for one. That is just so 5 years ago.
Have them pointing out to the side door for easy access. thats a mistake I would expect someone like bitfenix to make.
Its ok, but there is nothing wonderful about it. the look is average and the design is average. I like them as a company however, but this isn’t one of their highlights. their last case you reviewed here was much better.
If you consider fans at 1200 rpm inaudible you need to get your hearing checked. I don’t care if the case is sound proofed, the airflow in and out of the case will be clearly audible.
Depends on how close you are, the quality of the fans and the room acoustics.
Looks like a nice case. I really like what NZXT did with the front panel. disappointing to see that watercooling was all but ommited as an option in this case though